Home
by cursebreaker
Summary: Ted Tonks leaves home during DH.


There would be no easy way to go about explaining what he was about to do. Not to himself, not to his daughter or her new husband, and especially not the woman who was but a few dozen feet away, still sound asleep in their bed. But he had decided; there was no other way to keep those around them safe, not with the new laws that were being implemented. With his crazed sister-in-law, Bellatrix, on the loose and doing as she pleased, with Death Eaters moving so freely about the Ministry and running the whole of the wizarding world, a chance to get at a well known blood traitor, let alone a Black, was not something that Ted would be risking. He had seen his wife through the good times and the bad and had remained ever steady. He had convinced her as best he could that the relationship between their daughter and her love was for the best. After all, should anything shine through in the darkest moments then it should be that of love. And now, for that same reason, he stood in the bathroom of the home they had made together, zipping up the bag he had packed with but a few things, and moved as quietly as he could into the bedroom.

The frame of Andromeda still asleep, a treat that he was not granted often, was nearly enough to make him crawl back into bed and change his mind. She had given up everything for him. The entire life that she had known, the family in which had raised her and turned her into the woman he had fallen in love with, and now what was he doing? Running. With a shake of his head he refused to think of such things, not when he knew that wasn't the case. It was his turn to give up everything, his turn to leave the family to which had grown so accustomed to and try to make life better for all of them. He might not have been the best at goodbyes, might have known that Andromeda would literally hex him to the bed and refuse to let him leave, but that's what the early morning was for. She couldn't force him to stay if she didn't know that he was leaving. She would be mad, livid, most likely hex him when they met next, but the safety of her and the added safety (even if it was a bit) of Nymphadora was all that he could see in his mind when making the decision.

Moving to the bed, his knee resting on his side, an arm out stretched and snaking beneath the pillow of his wife, Ted allowed for his free hand to come up and brush the hair that was resting on her cheek away. It didn't matter that her back was to him, that he wasn't getting a real view of the woman he had called his for so long; even the sideways glance at her was still enough to cause his heart to skip a cliched beat. Leaning forward, his lips barely touching her skin (the fear of touching her, waking her, not wanting to leave rising strong within him), he pulled back and moved away from the bed, pleased with himself for not causing her to stir. That was until he knocked over the lamp on the bedside table. With a loud crack it rang through the air and quickly he pivoted his body from the scene of the accident to look at the raven-haired woman who slept in their bed. "Ted?" she had questioned, though her body didn't move, she didn't even appear to be breathing. Her tone was soft, one that he knew was only for him and their daughter, and the sadness that was welling up within him started to overwhelm. "Just tripped on my way to the bathroom," he replied, his voice not hoarse from sleep but from the emotion running within him. "Go back to sleep. I'll be back in a minute."

Andromeda didn't stir again, Ted only assuming that she was satisfied with his answer. He had never lied to her before, why would she expect him to do so now? Creeping out of the bedroom door he turned back but one time to look at her once more, stomach dropping as he finally received the full view of her sleeping frame. He had to force himself to turn, bag in hand, as he moved to the bedroom of their daughter, an envelope with a note inside explaining why he had left, why he knew she would understand, and why she would have to watch out for Andromeda. If he knew his wife (and he was sure that he did) she would attempt to find him by any means possible, and the thought of her returning to her old way of life when she fought a battle each day to keep that part of her at bay was not something that he would have ever wanted. The note for Andromeda had already been left in the kitchen, placed gingerly against the kettle the night previous as he moved about the home to turn out the lights. Walking at a pace that even surprised himself, his body demanding to be as far away from the home as possible to stop his mind from over thinking, he apparated on point the moment that he could.

Ted never knew of the cry that would come from Andromeda when she discovered that he was missing, never hear the sound of her voice as she read the letter that he had left behind, never see her (a woman so composed) have a moment where she was anything but. Ted would never know the gut feeling that took over Andromeda that morning, how as she read his words on paper she instinctively knew that they wouldn't be seeing each other again. He wouldn't find out that his daughter was with child, that he would be a grandfather to the boy that Andromeda considered perfection in every sense of the word, never know that the child would be named after him. He wouldn't know that later that day the place that he called home would be raided, that he had left just in time and saved Andromeda from having the Ministry take any action against her. He couldn't know that in but a few weeks time he would be captured and taken to Malfoy manor where he would meet, for the first time, his two sister-in-laws. That there he would be tortured for information regarding a boy that he had met but once. He didn't know that the man that killed his own family, his mother, father, and sister, in an attempt to get a reaction from the former Black would once again raise his wand, but this time have it trained at him. Perhaps if he did he would have never even left.


End file.
